Brandenburger Tor

Finished in 1791, the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) has seen a lot of history. It survived Napoleon, although he took the quadriga (the horses and chariot on the top of the tor) back to Paris, it survived World War II, but with some damage, and it survived the cold war, but was certainly used for propaganda purposes.

I'm not sure if Napoleon was ever actually at the Gate, but there is a rather dramatic painting of him there by Charles Meynier.

Kennedy came to look at the Berlin Wall here but his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech was made elsewhere. When he came to look, the Soviets hung giant red banners between the columns so he couldn't look through to the other side. Reagan made his "tear down this wall" speech here. Right wing nut jobs love to point to that as some sort of catalyst that brought down the wall. In reality, the Soviets just ran out of money and that spelled the end for their client states, East Germany included.

Brandenburger Tor

Finished in 1791, the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) has seen a lot of history. It survived Napoleon, although he took the quadriga (the horses and chariot on the top of the tor) back to Paris, it survived World War II, but with some damage, and it survived the cold war, but was certainly used for propaganda purposes.

I'm not sure if Napoleon was ever actually at the Gate, but there is a rather dramatic painting of him there by Charles Meynier.

Kennedy came to look at the Berlin Wall here but his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech was made elsewhere. When he came to look, the Soviets hung giant red banners between the columns so he couldn't look through to the other side. Reagan made his "tear down this wall" speech here. Right wing nut jobs love to point to that as some sort of catalyst that brought down the wall. In reality, the Soviets just ran out of money and that spelled the end for their client states, East Germany included.